October Results

I'm not sure what to think about last month's results. On one hand I ran above ev, but I won at a lower rate than I am accustomed to. On the other hand I'm finding less and less time to grind as the year wraps up. I played 39hrs online and another 10 hrs live. 1st my online results...


































Even though I only got in about 40k hands online, I experienced the swings of playing poker. I started the month off hot winning about $9k right off the bat, but right when I started thinking poker was easy it decided to teach me that it really isn't.

I made another $1680 in rakeback but lost $215 in mtts. I've been playing very few online mtts because of the NFL. I won another $3k playing live. I broke about even over 2 sessions in mix games at the Bellagio but won $500 playing $1-$2nl on my Arkansas trip (will post about my trip next time) and another $2500 playing $10-$20nl at the Bellagio. For the month I came out ahead $8,420.

W/ 2 months left I'm reflecting back on the year. I'm kind of in the middle on how I feel about my poker results. I'm way behind my pace of 7 figures but I've been saying I'm using that as more of a motivator to get me to play more (while working on my game) than anything else. I'm content w/ my hrly which stands around $300/hr. I'm disappointed in the hrs I put in though. I may need to get some coaching w/ Doublefly (who's excellent blog can be found on my blog roll) who excels at playing a good amount while balancing family life (heck I can't figure out where he finds the time to update his blog on a daily basis as well!!). I'm going to leave my $1mil goal as is because I'm planning on playing a couple of big live tournaments in the next 2 months that may get me over (obviously will need to run good but who knows).

I'm not complaining about what I've made though. Even though some make more than me (most by luckboxing a tournament and a few at cash games) I know that I'm fortunate to make as much as I do playing a simple game of cards. I'm not comparing poker to major sports but you see top notch athletes excelling and making lots of money but also knowing they're lucky to be in the position they're in. I feel the same way, even though I'm not implying I'm the best or anything (just good at what I do)...more about feeling lucky to be able to make the money I make doing what I enjoy doing, even if it feels tedious at times. I'm sure a lot of people would love to be in the position I am and I'm not taking that for granted. I hope some of the young guys that excel in poker feel the same way. It would definitely help prolong their careers if they thought the same way.

In other news I've been away for a couple of weeks visiting a friend in Arkansas but am now getting back into the grind of things. I've been playing a little more live which is kind of refreshing since I play mostly online. That's probably something I'll write about in the future, live vs online since I have plenty of hours in both. I live in Las Vegas so it's very convenient to go play live whenever I choose. Besides Los Angeles, Vegas is probably the best place to live for live poker.

I'm also fortunate in that my wife and kid love living in Vegas. Most don't realize that it's one of the fastest growing cities in America, and once you're away from the strip, it really is a normal city. As a poker player w/ a family I have the best of both worlds... a nice family oriented community where we live, and a quick 15 minute drive to the Vegas strip if I want to play some poker.

Yesterday probably exemplifies what I'm saying. My kid had the day off from school so she spent the day and night at a family friends' house. My wife and I decided to head to the Venetian to play some poker. I entered the $350 deepstack tournament (and promptly busted out in an hr) and my wife played some $2-$5 nl. I jumped into a $5-$10 nl game (and won $2600...live poker, gotta love it). I get a $10 food voucher for the tournament I played in and we eat at a nice chinese restaurant in the Venetian then decide to watch a late showing of "Jersey Boys" at the Palazzo which is right next door to the Venetian. "Jersey Boys" is a critically acclaimed Broadway like musical that centers around Frankie Valli and the 4 Seasons of "Sherry" and "Walk like a Man" fame. Anyway the show was good even though the demographic of the crowd were people in their 50s and 60s which is understandable. So for the day I ended up winning $2250 in poker and got in a nice dinner and show w/ my wife at the end of it. Yeah, Vegas is cool.